Sociologists define the concept,
"society"as a group of interacting individuals who
share the same territory and participate in a common culture. As we have
already seen, "interaction" is
a process by which communicating individuals influence each others' thoughts
and activities. All of this interaction must be ordered or organized some way;
according to some framework--- We refer to this frame work as social
structure.

Social structure is the organization of
social positions and the distribution of people in them. Our text defines
social structure as "the way in which a society is organized into
predictable relationships"

It's important to realize that we
are not concerned with personalities but positions; e.g., faculty
member; short stop; half-back; President of the U.S., etc. (This is not as easy
as it seems--- Think of the President. What thoughts fill your
mind? Now think of the president who served before Clinton.
What kinds of thoughts enter your mind? It is difficult to separate the man from
the position).

The basic components of
social structure are: Statuses; Roles; Groups; and Institutions.
We've already discussed six basic social institutions:

1. FAMILY-- caring for the
young

2. EDUCATION-- transmitting cultural
knowledge from one generation to the next

3. RELIGION-- reaffirming the values that
bind people together

4. POLITICS-- governing people, maintaining
order

5. ECONOMY-- providing food, shelter, and
necessary services

6. RECREATION--entertainment/ recreation/
relaxation

There are two levels of social
structure: 1.) Micro level: small, interpersonal level-- dorm life;
organizational network in the office. 2.) Macro level: the "Big
Picture" how does it fit into society? (The
relationships between components of society -- education in American Society).

Example: The Prison

Micro level: Look at a
prison. We see that it's comprised of administrators, guards, and prisoners.
There's also an elaborate set of rules governing the relationships between the
three. But when we look deeper we find more. There's an informal network among
the prisoners and they divide themselves into many different categories and
these categories describe what they do in the prison. Here are some of the
positions in prison argot: (Sykes and Messinger)

wolf or fag:
prisoners who enter into homosexual relationships (label applies to the role
they take) [Tusk hogs at Richmond State Pen.?]

square
John: they conform to the values of the greater society (in effect, support
prison officials)

rat
or squealer: informers

real
man or right guy: quiet; doesn't talk; doesn't push people around, but can
handle the toughs and the gorillas; doesn't let other prisoners down--- i.e.
the Clint Eastwood type

The importance of this is that
some prisoners assume much admired roles-- the real men; while others are
considered scum-- the rats. The problem for prison administrators is to
maintain order and control when they are in the minority--- more prisoners than
guards. Prisoners certainly don't obey from love or respect. They are at the
legal limits of coercion. How do they do this, then? They allow the breaking of
trivial rules in exchange for cooperation. They allow an "informal social
structure" to develop where prison leaders (prisoners, themselves) have a
say in what goes on. In May, 1980 very violent riots took place in the
New Mexico State Pen. Why? The informal structure was disrupted. Cries of
political corruption booted out leaders to other prisons and left the prisoners
without leaders. As a result, the toughs and gorillas took over-- macho
contests. A riot ensued: When the authorities tried to negotiate, they found
that they had to deal with several different groups of prisoners.

The Macro Level: Here we
wouldn't focus on the internal workings of a particular prison, but rather how
prisons fit into the larger society.

·What is the purpose of prisons (containment and
isolation; punishment; retribution; rehabilitation)?

·What percent of the U.S.
population is in prison? (over 1,000,000 in prison on any given day in U.S.-- a
% greater than most countries; well over 1 million on probation/parole).

·What types of prisons are there?

·What are the characteristics of prisoners-- age,
sex, religion, race?

·Are prisons overcrowded? (From 1993 World
Almanac: It is estimated that state prisons were 16 to 31 percent above
their capacities in 1990.

status:
refers to a position in the social structure; Each person possesses several
statuses, age, sex, race, occupation, nationality, son, daughter, mother,
father, etc.

master
status: This is the basic one in giving you a sense of who you are.
Think of the question, "Who and what are you, what do you do?"
(Usually its a job).

ascribed
status: This one has been assigned or given to us and we can't change
it easily-- race, sex, age, etc.

achieved
status: It is earned by us; Doctor, Lawyer, college graduate, etc.).

social
class: Roughly a social class consists of people who occupy the
same status in society. (Marx -- depends on relationship to the means of
production (job); Weber-- status group, people who share similar interests, attitudes, likes, and dislikes).
(College professors can have different life-styles; one goes to bars and basket
ball games while the other goes to fancy restaurants and classical music
concerts). According to Weber garbage collector and factory owner can both
belong to the same status group if they both like Mozart and have similar likes
and dislikes.

roles: Roles
are socially prescribed ways of acting in a particular status. They involve
certain behavior patterns, obligations and privileges. We play a different role
for each of the different statuses we occupy. Usually one status (say President
of the U.S.)
has many different roles assigned to it. (Run country, veto bills, State of the
Union Address, commander of armed forces, submit budget to Congress, greet
foreign dignitaries, etc). We call this arole set.

role set: Each status
usually has several roles attached to it-- Doctor as medical professional;
Doctor as nurse supervisor; Doctor as instructor to other Doctors; Doctor as
medical researcher; Doctor as hospital administrator; Doctor as surgeon.

role
model: A person who occupies a status and plays the roles associated
with that status in the way that we would like to play them. (Sort
of an ideal). Be able to hit the ball like Ted Williams or Mickey
Mantle.

role
expectations: social norms that define how a role should be played.
(What is an English Professor
supposed to teach? How are children expected to behave in front of company?)

role
performance: actual role behavior--- how well we actually play the roles
we have.

role
strain: difficulties that result from the differing demands and
expectations associated with the same social position (status). The Captain of
a Navy ship has many roles. One of them is to maintain high morale among the
officers and crew. Another is to accomplish the assigned mission or task. Often
these two are incompatible, and it's hard to meet role expectations.

role
conflict: Difficulties that occur when incompatible expectations arise from two or more social
positions (statuses) held by the same individual. For example; a priest hearing
confession--- a man comes in and confesses to killing the President of the U.S.
Here, two different roles, associated with two different statuses-- (priest's
confidentiality vs his role as a responsible citizen
to report a crime to the police) have two roles which are in conflict. How many
people have seen the movie Ser geantYork?
Gary Cooper has serious doubts about joining the Army. In fact, he won't do it
until those doubts are settled. (Man of God vs. soldier expected to kill). He
will not assume that second status (soldier) until he resolves the dilemma. He
was trying to avoid role conflict by not assuming the position (status) of
soldier. How does he re solve this problem? He decides that a man of God can,
and must, under certain circumstances, kill. In other words the roles do not
necessarily con flict. Once he resolves this dilemma
he readily accepts the second status which is that of soldier.

groups:
A group is a number of people (three or more) who interact together in an
orderly way on the basis of shared expectations about each other's behavior.
Note the distinction between group and category. The latter are people who
share the same characteristic-- red hair, for example. Note that a group is
more than a simple aggregate-- people who happen to be at the same place at the
same time.

primary
group: relatively small number of people who interact over a relatively
long period of time on an intimate, face-to-face basis. These groups are the
building blocks of social structure families, roommates, husband and wife, peer
group, small town, or neighborhood.

secondary
group: relatively large number of people who interact on a temporary, ananymous, and impersonal basis. Formal organizations like
Ford Motor Company, IBM, DuPont; they exist to serve
a purpose.

associations
and institutions: What's the difference between the terms
"association" and "institution?" An institution is a stable
cluster of values, norms, statuses, roles, and groups that develops around a
basic social need. Simply stated--- an organized procedure--
an established way of pursuing some basic social need. On the other hand
an association is any organized group, large or small that; has structure; has continuity; continues beyond the individuals that
start it; has an identity (name)

What are some of the characteristics of
institutions? They are inherently conservative. we
say that patterns of behavior become institutionalized. By this we mean that
they become fixed, rigid, traditional. It's difficult
to change and innovate. Education; stop the experimenting--- get back to the
basics. Religion; bring prayer back into the schools. Recreation; Until recently, refusing to change the criteria for amateur
status in the Olympics, (Why not let the pro's participate? What took them so
long to allow women to run the marathon?) Economy; In the U.S. we're afraid of
socialized medicine when it would provide better care for the poor. Government;
campaigning takes more and more time from the presidency, yet people resist
implementing 1 six-year term. Institutions are closely linked within the
social structure. Religion, politics, recreation, economy, family, education all are compatible and interrelated within a given
society. If not, the society would disintegrate. (Witness the tremendous strain
Catholicism places upon the government in communist Poland.
Because institutions are linked together when one changes, the others tend to
experience "adjusting changes."

Functions of institutions: There
are two kinds (from Robert Merton): manifest and latent. Manifest
functions are those that are intended. Latent functions are hidden and
unintended. What is the manifest function of education, for example? --
Education is intended to provide training which enables individuals to function
in society. --It is intended to teach the youth. What is a latent function of
education? It gets the kids out of the home and frees up mothers from baby
sitting so they can get into the labor force.

Societies
world wide, in the present and the past display general patterns of
characteristics which are based upon the complexity of their social structures.
These patterns have been gathered into five different types:

Hunting and gathering:

overy
small scattered groups

ohigh
level of equality

ono
material wealth

ono
division or specialization of labor

olittle
or no warfare

ostatus
based upon sex, age, or kinship

oreligion is simple. No gods-- just unseen spirits that must
be taken account of not worshiped.

Pastoral societies:
(subsistence strategy based on the domestication of animals)

Groups are
important to sociologists because most of our day-to-day activities are spent
in the company of other people in a group; whether it be
at home, at school, or at work. There are virtually countless groups in
society. They vary in size, but almost everybody belongs to a large
number of them. For example, you may think that it would be difficult to name
25 groups that you belong to. But VCU students have easily provided the
following:.

VCU Student Body

Suite/Dorm Mates

English Class

Spanish Class

Math Class

Sociology Class

Biology Class

Class of 2000, etc.

Immediate Family

Extended Family

Sports Team/Club

High School Class

Bank

Auto Club (AAA)

Auto Insurance Co.

College Meal Plan

Neighborhood

Religious Affiliation

Political Party

Employment Group

Fraternity/Sorority

Peer Group (Friends)

Academic Program

Video Club

Internet Access

Most of our socialization occurs in
groups. In groups we learn to enact various roles and most roles have meaning
only within the context of groups. Example:

A group is simply a collection of people who: 1.)
Interact on a fairly regular basis; 2.) occupy specific status's and know the
roles expected of those status's; 3.) Show general agreement on goals, rules,
values; 4.) Have a sense of shared identity.

Classification of Groups:

Primary Group: The primary
group is very important to the development of the human as a social being. It
is the locus of our socialization. Some of the characteristics:

A high degree of
intimacy among members (promotes loyalty). Face-to-face, personal
interaction

Relatively small
size (usually less than 20 people)

Great emotional
depth

The group tends to
last a long time to endure.

Examples of primary groups:

the family

street gangs

play groups

certain
social clubs (fraternities, sororities, etc.)

sports team

Secondary Group: The
secondary group reflects characteristics that are the opposite of the above. It
is large, formal and impersonal group that does not display social
intimacy. Key attributes:

Far less intimacy,
much more impersonal large, more bureaucratic;

Usually formed for
a specific purpose;

People relate to
each other not so much face to face but according to specific positions
(and roles).

Relationships
between individuals are not emotional but are based upon calculation

We join these
groups for what they can do for us, not what they mean to us.

Examples of secondary groups:

civic organizations

college classes

work groups task
forces

auto club (AAA)

business
corporations

government
departments

the Army (but not
the squad or platoon)

the bank

In-groups and Outgroups: (This concept was first
developed by William Graham Sumner when he spoke of "we"
and "they" feelings. The "in-group" is the group that we
belong to (or feel that we belong to). The "out group" is one that we
feel we don't belong to, (and act as if we wouldn't
want to belong). In-group feelings promote group solidarity and, in some cases,
group superiority. I know a Virginia Tech graduate whose license plate reads:
"NOT UVA". (U.Va. graduates will
chide their Tech friends with comments like; "Joe didn't go to college, he
went to Tech."

Reference Groups: A
reference group is any group of people that individuals use as a standard for
evaluating themselves and their own behavior (Schaefer). The term
"reference group" was coined by Herbert Hymen in 1942 in a study of
social class. Hymen discovered that what people perceived their social status
to be could not be predicted solely from factors of income and levels of
education. A person's self evaluation depended upon the groups used as a
framework for judgment. In many cases individuals modeled their behavior after
groups to which they did not belong. Reference Groups can be primary or
secondary groups:

Reference Groups fall into three categories:

Those in which we
hold official membership (VCU).

Those to which we
would like to belong (Nobel Prize Winners; Olympic Atheletes;
Good Parents, etc.)

Reference groups may vary from
situation to situation. Example: You got a "C" on your last test. So
what? Is that good or bad. What class was it? Sociology or Organic
Chemistry? In this case we compare ourselves to the rest of the class. A
"C" in Psychology may not be so hot; but a "C" in organic
may be great. "C" is a respectable grade if everybody else got
"D's" and "F's."

Subdivisions of reference groups:

Normative:
This group sets the standards for our own actions.

Comparative:
We use this group to judge our performance How well did I do in
comparison to the other members of the class?

Audience: We
can adjust our behavior with regard to how the group reacts to
what we say and do.

All groups (primary and
secondary) tend to have leaders-- people who are
able to influence the behavior of others consistently.

What makes a leader? It's difficult to say what
specific personal characteristics are important. The argument that
"leaders are born not made" doesn't hold water, but there aresome
physical characteristics that seem to emerge often among leaders: (Of
course, there are numerous exceptions to the following):

Often they are
taller: This may seem hard to believe, but American Presidents have
tended to be taller than the average population Washington, Jefferson,
Lincoln, (more recently, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton!) Of course, there
are some major exceptions to this.

More attractive people
are often found in leadership positions.

More intelligent
people usually emerge as leaders.

Self-confident people
tend to be leaders.

Sociable
people tend to lead.

Assertive
people, people who begin conversations emerge as leaders.

The situation is very important in
determining leadership. Usually by this we mean what the purpose of the group
is (what it does) and the skills that the leader has.

A good example of this is Capt.
John Smith and the situation involving the Jamestown
colony in Virginia. The colony of
about 105 settlers was in danger of being wiped out by famine, hostile indians, and poor leadership.
Smith, by far was the ablest leader there experienced, brave, charismatic (he
was short 5'2"). But he was also brash and, at times, disrespectful to
authority. On the way across the Atlantic he had been
placed under arrest and was not released until a month after the colonists had
landed (Dabney, p. 2). After a
initial problems and the failings of other leaders, Smith was asked to take
over and organized the colony in the early years, 1607-1609. He was the main
reason why it survived. In 1609 he suffered a serious injury (gunshot wound
accidental) and returned to England
in the Fall of that year. There were about 500
colonists when he departed. The next Spring 60 colonists were left. (Indian
hostility was the primary reason for the deaths most colonists starved to
death, others were massacred, still others succumbed
to disease). It is questionable whether or not Smith could have fared any
better than those who were left to lead the colony, but he was its best leader.

Small group research has shown that
there are two types of leaders:

Instrumental
leaders are goal oriented. They concentrate on the task at hand, and
direct the group toward its goals. They perform what is called the
"tasking function."

Expressive
leaders concentrate on maintaining harmony among group members. They
perform what is often called the "maintenance function."

Usually, when a group is formed,
both these functions are assumed by one person, but as time goes on they split
and a new person usually emerges to take over the maintenance. One reason for
this is that the instrumental leaders tend to lose popularity they tell
everybody what to do and give them a hard time if it's not done.

Styles of leadership: Usually, you'll find
that leadership has been divided into three separate kinds:

Authoritarian:
One person or a small group of people have total control and give all
the orders. An authoritarian style of leadership is especially effective
in emergency situations where action must be quick, coordinated and
effective. This is precisely the kind of leadership one finds in the
military, where one person has "authority" to make decisions
(at various levels) and there is a definite chain of command to follow.
(Culturally, In the United States this form of leadership is not the
most effective in the small group situation, because it leads to
dissension and in fighting.)

Democratic: Here
the leader attempts to win consensus on his decision before carrying it
out. "Is everybody happy?" This form of leadership generally
works well in small groups and in countries like the United
States where people value the
opportunity to have a say in the final decision. However, it is not
applicable to certain situations. Can you imagine the Captain of a
ship taking a vote every time the ship needed to change course?

Laissez-faire
(Virtually "Hands-off" leadership) In
this case, there is a designated leader but he/she lets the group run
itself.

Perhaps one of the most important
characteristics of a group is its size. Size determines the kind of
interaction that occurs within a group-- basically how the group works. The smaller the group, the more intense the interaction.
Group conformity is very strong in a small group.
A German sociologist, GeorgSimmel (1858-1918) is perhaps the first to emphasize the
importance of interaction processes within groups. He pointed out that as a
group grows in size, it must develop "forms and organs which serve its
maintenance and promotion." These forms and organs are things that a
smaller group doesn't need. On the other hand, small groups have qualities that
disappear when groups grow larger. (Schaefer, 1983).

The smallest group is the dyad, (a two person
group). Here the emotional level is very intense because the two people in
the group depend on each other for existence of the group. One reason for this
is that you can't hide responsibility for things that occur within the confines
of the dyad. (It's either you or me, and I know I didn't do it). Simmel pointed out that the thought of termination of the
group hangs over a dyadic relationship perhaps more than any other type of
relationship. (Schaefer, 1983).

THREE PERSON GROUPS
OR "TRIADS"

In Triads or three person groups,
many of these qualities change. In many respects, a whole different world
exists. ("If it's not me, it's gotta be
you!" no longer exists).

Coalitions two
against one can form.

The third person
can act as a mediator and bind the other two together (a child settling
an argument between its parents).

"Divide and
rule" strategy can emerge where one individual can pit the other
two against each other. (Ask the class if they had any difference
between two and three roommate situations.

"SMALL
GROUPS"

Small Groups: When we refer to "small
groups," we mean that there are sufficiently few members that all members
can relate to each other as individuals According to Theodore Caplow, the upper limit of such groups is about 30 people.
(Our text seems to imply that 20 people is the largest
a primary group can become).

Small groups
can either be primary or secondary.

While still
considered "small", once a group gets to be above 12 people or
so, there is a need for a leader to serve the purpose of channeling
communication. (Studies have shown that 7 people can do well without a
leader for this purpose).

The larger the
group, the greater the necessity to rely upon rules and regulations to
guide behavior in the group. As size increases, the structure becomes
more rigid and formal. (Written rules and regulations emerge to guide
behavior-- Such groups are called "formal organizations").

Goal
achievement: Very often, groups are formed for the purpose of
getting something done. (IBM, FORD, GM; The Environmental Protection
Agency)

Proximity: How
do you make friends, in the first place? Unless you're strange, you tend
to meet and make friends in the immediate circle of your personal
contacts. (There are some people who live in a big city and have no
friends in that city, but do maintain an extensive friendship network of
pen pals, or other friends through CB or Amateur radio).

Similarity:People who share the same likes, dislikes, values,
beliefs, etc., will often form clubs and social networks.

How does a group define its own boundaries
so that it can distinguish itself form the surrounding population or other
groups? In some cases it's easy as the groups adopt badges, emblems,
uniforms, etc. which they wear or display and serve to distinguish them from
the surrounding population. (Fire Department, Police, Military, all are good
examples). In other cases, the differences are not as obvious and we have to
spend a little more time studying a group before we can tell what
characteristics its members have adopted to distinguish itself from the
surrounding world. Here are some examples:

argot
(language, slang, key phrases)-- Many groups and organizations
have their own slang or terminology. The military, in particular,
is known for its use of acronyms (words made up of initials from longer
phrases). Naval personnel are very familiar with words like
"BUPERS" (Bureau of Personnel) or "BUMED" (Bureau of
Medicine) there's even a "DICNAVAB" (Dictionary of Naval
Abbreviations)!

subtle
elements of dress or personal appearance-- the business suit
and briefcase vs blue jeans and flannel
shirt. (Do professors of business and law dress differently from
their colleagues in engineering, sociology and psychology?

By establishing norms of physical
appearance groups reinforce their boundaries and develope
a sense of "we" (the in-group) and "they" (the out-group).

There are also other ways that group identity is
reinforced. "Rites of passage"are special ceremonies that
emphasize the importance of joining or forming a group. Special holidays
and "anniversaries" (Independence Day or July Fourth, for example)
reinforce group identity. The wedding ceremony is one "rite of
passage" that marks the formation of a new group in our society. At
another level, to become a citizen when you're born outside the U.S.
requires lots of studying, a written exam, and usually an elaborate
"swearing-in" ceremony).

Which is better at making a
decision-- a group or an individual? Research on this question indicates
that the answer depends on the kind of task that is involved: Tasks
can be divided into two different kinds: determinate and indeterminate:

Determinate tasks
have one definite solution that is quickly apparent. Designing an
automobile, or bridge or even doing a simple crossword puzzle are
examples of such tasks-- There is one correct solution. Goups can perform these tasks more quickly because
they have a larger pool of talent and experience.

Indeterminant
tasks do not have immediately apparent correct decisions.
Selecting applicants for college admissions or choosing job applicants
are examples of indeterminant tasks and it is
not clear whether groups out-perform individuals in these situations.

The Risky Shift:
Groups tend to make riskier decisions than individuals. It is
hypothesized that when in a group, responsibility for the decision is
"diffused" among the members. Individuals are more visibly
accountable for the decisions that they make alone. Thus, individual
decision-making tends to be more conservative.

Group Think: Inside the group, there is
normative pressure to conform and produce unanamous
decisions. This pressure may cause people to ignore or play down
information that goes against group norms guiding the decision process.
"Don't rock the boat" is a good example of this. Group Think
can have disasterous consequences. (Some
writers have pointed to U.S.
policy in Vietnam
as an example of this, where Congress was slow to question involvement in the
war). Schaefer has a great example of how the Persians avoided the
dangers of "group think." They decided an important issue twice.
First, they would address the issue while sober. Then they would get
drunk and revisit it. (The idea being that alcohol, as a releaser, would remove
people's inhibitions against opposing group norms)!

As we've seen, in a two person
arrangement (a dyad), the members are totally dependent on each other, but in a
triad, alliances can form and an individual can benefit from a disagreement
between the other two members.

As group size increases, the total number of
possible relationships increases from

One in a two
person group

Twenty-five
in a four person group

966 in a
seven person group

28500 in a
ten person group

We actually have a
formula to use when computing the total number of possible
relationships:

R = ((3n 2n+1) + 1) / 2

When a group starts getting up
beyond seven members, leaders start dominating communications and the group's
procedures become more formal. When a group starts getting very large,
certain things start happening. It tends to become less less cohesive and there is an
increase in internal conflict. Of course there are exceptions to this.

A formal organization has been
commonly defined to be a large social group that is deliberately and rationally
formed to achieve specific objectives. Private compamies like IBM or public agencies like the
Internal Revenue Service are good examples. Generally, formal
organizations share the following characteristics:

A collective
identity or name

A charter or
"vision statement" which outlines its purpose

A list of members

An Organization
Chart or some other means of defining the organizational hierarchy

Formal organizations can be voluntary
(People join of their own will-- political parties, churches, etc.); coercive
(People are forced to join the draft, attend schools or some alternative form
of schooling); or utilitarian (People join for practical purposes work ing for IBM).

Bureaucracy: When we speak of formal
organizations we usually think of bureaucracy and the work of Max Weber. Bureaucracy
is the part of a formal ogranization responsible for
planning, coordinating, and supervising work. Essentially, it is the formal
organization's administrative arm.

Common sense may tell us that bureaucracies are
inherently inefficient but Weber points out that overall, they are very
efficient in doing what they're supposed to do-- distrributing
vast amounts of information and material across a large area. Still, we
are all aware of bizzarre things that can happen in
bureaucracies: The Department of Defense has come under intense scrutiny
for $2000.00 toilet seats and $500.00 hammers, for example.

Max Weber applied his concept of "ideal
type" to the study of bureaucracy and found that the typical bureaucracy
has the following features:

1. Clearly defined and specific
purposes with associated rules and regulations which govern the behavior
of officials.

2. A well defined division of labor with people
assigned to do different tasks.

3. Offices and authority arranged in a hierarchy. (Pyramidal authority).

4. The members of the bureaucracy are personally
free. That is they are contractual workers and are paid for their work. (They
can quit the job if so inclined).

5. People are promoted (or moved up) based upon
seniority, performance, or both. Initially they are hired on basis of technical
competence in the particular job they seek.

6. Workers perform their job in a disciplined and
impersonal manner tend to treat people as cases.

7. The bureaucracy maintains a set of detailed
written records or files.

8. Individuals are committed to their
"office." Example; an artist is committed to his craft a bureaucrat
to his desk.

Dysfunctions of Bureaucracy:

Inefficiency--
Despite the fact that they are designed to be efficient, bureaucracies
create "red tape" which often seems to slow down what should
be very simple tasks.

Bureaucracies do
not handle exceptional cases very well because they are set to meet
"standard requirements").

"Trained
incapacity" is a term that refers to the fact that workers in a
bureaucracy are so narrowly trained that they can't handle problems
outside one' own specific position.

Bureaucrats become
focused on their own internal workings and may tend to forget the major
problem that they were created to solve in the first place. (A special
government commission formed to do one task may spend much of its time
trying to perpetuate or even expand itself).

Communications may
be slowed as they must travel along a large number of offices to get to
those responsible for carrying them out.

Individual
personalities may be repressed by the formality of the position a person
holds.

Parkinson's Law:
Work expands to fill the available time allotted for completion.
Therefore there is a tendency for an organization to grow.

Peter Principle:
Employees tend to get promoted to positions above their levels of
competence. (They get promoted above their capabilities).

Michels'
Iron Law of Oligarchy: In a bureaucracy, leaders and managers tend
to promote people similar to themselves and eventually,
power becomes concentrated in the hands of a few.